Newsletter Thursday 9th May

We the staff of St Patrick’s acknowledge the traditional owners, the Kulin nations, of the land on which we learn and play.

We pay respects to the Aboriginal Elders, past and present, who are our teachers.

We thank them for taking care of children and country for countless generations.

Year 4 Camp

Year 4 Camp 46.70 KB

Year Level Camp/ Fun Day Dates:

TERM DATES 2024

2024 PUPIL FREE DAYS AND SCHOOL CLOSURE DAYS:

The 4 Pupil Free days ensure that we can manage our commitment for all staff to continue to provide activities such as school camps for our students.
Please note, these dates are separate from our 8 Staff Professional Development days. Those 8 days are for our staff professional learning which will focus on Religious Education, Learning and Teaching and Student Wellbeing.

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

Yesterday afternoon, we held our Blessing and Opening for the work completed in the B and E Block. We had several official guests that were invited including our Director, Paul Velten and MP Senator Jess Walsh. Fr Janeesh and our school leaders led us through a wonderful liturgy for the Blessing part of the ceremony and then after the buildings were blessed with Holy Water, we commenced the Opening Ceremony.

It was wonderful to welcome back some of our ex-staff members including Simon Dell’Oro and Jacki Taylor to celebrate with us. Many thanks to our choir for their wonderful work in preparing the songs for this special event. Thanks to Jo Peterson and Amali Fernando for their wonderful work with those students.

I would also like to acknowledge the work and support of my administration team in the office, Cindy and Alex. They have been an incredible source of support to me during the planning of this event. A big thank you also to Jacky Merrey for her support with the ICT requirements needed for this occasion and as always to executive leaders, Lisa and Donna, who kept the school running smoothly during my pre-occupation with this event. There will be photos of the Blessing and Opening further down in the newsletter. And of course, my wonderful staff and students. The students were to be commended yesterday as they remained reverent and respectful during the entire ceremony. This was noted by all of our special guests as well!

Take care and God Bless,

Meg

As you are no doubt aware, the roadworks are continuing to ramp up with the installation of the new rail line in Pakenham, I ask parents to keep this in mind in the mornings when planning your trip to school. It is important that the students are arriving at school on time, between 8.30 and 8.55 so they can begin the day settled. Children do not like arriving late. They miss out on important information about the day, they are embarrassed and most importantly, they miss out on vital learning!

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

On Monday 13th May we will be hosting a Mother's Day Assembly in our stadium at 9:00am.
Mothers, Carers and Guardians are invited to grab a coffee from the van near our church car park from 8:30am and then some morning tea in the stadium before the assembly begins. It will run for approximately half an hour. All families are invited to attend.

We will be announcing our raffle winners on this morning as well !

From the recent writing competition that Upper Beaconsfield Community Centre we have two writing pieces that have won an award! This week you can read 'Echos of a Heartbeat' by Thomas in 6JP

CSEF Applications are now due! 

If you have a current Health Care Card you may be eligable for the school fees concession program. 

The applicant must be one of the following:

1. a parent/carer (of a student attending a registered Government or non-government Victorian primary or secondary school) who is:
   • on the first day of Term 1 (29 January 2024), or the first day of Term 2 (15 April 2024)  a holder of one or more of the eligible financially-means tested cards (Centrelink Health Care Card or a Pensioner Concession Card), or
   • a temporary foster parent

The parent/carer must submit an application to the school by 23 June 2024.

If anyone has any questions or would like to discuss their school fee account, please contact the school office. 

Please download and fill in both forms below if you qualify.

If there are any changes from last year, this includes a new child starting at the school or any child who has now left the school, there is an additional form that needs to be filled out. Please come by the school office to collect it.

Conveyance allowance

The conveyance allowance is a State Government allowance that may be available to students attending government or non-government schools.

If you live more than 4.8km from your closest school you can apply for the conveyance allowance and:

• travelling by public transport or by private car, motorbike, bicycle or bus, and
• whose nearest school is not serviced by a free school bus provided under the School Bus Program

The conveyance allowance is a State Government contribution towards transport costs and is not intended to cover the full cost of transporting children to and from school.

 Application for private car travel  (also available in the knowledge bank section in PAM)

 Application for public transport travel    (also available in the knowledge bank section in PAM)

School Bus Program

The School Bus Program is an extensive school bus network that provides free travel to eligible students. Students must be attending government and non-government schools and living in rural and regional Victoria. 

* Students are expected to use public transport where a service is available within 1.6 km (measured by shortest practicable route) of their home or closer to their home than the nearest school bus service. This applies to both students applying to access the SBP at no cost and to fare paying passengers. * * 

If your child is eligible, they can travel for free.

There are different categories that decide if your child is eligible for free travel. For more information read the eligibility guide below.

School bus program eligibility guide

Click on the link below to check if a school bus is available in your area.

School Bus Management System

School Fees

Please find the school fee schedule attached. All schoo fee statements have been emailed out. If you have any questions plese contact Cindy in the school office.

SiMON Everywhere is the new app our school uses to acces PAM and CDF Pay. We will be sending reminders through this app, as such please download and sign in. There is a guide below for your reference. If you are having any issues please contact Alex Taylor in the school office ataylor@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Have you logged into your PAM account yet! 

We use PAM as our main form of communication.  All emails, Student Attendance, Sick Bay notes, School Reports, commonly used forms, excursion/camp permission notes and Family Learning conversations, will all be communicated via PAM.  

Access PAM via this link   Link to PAM 

PAM - Parent Access Module

PAM (Parent Access Module) is our Parent to School communication platform.   PAM will provide real time access to keep parents updated with their children’s progress, important dates and messages. Relevant resources – calendar events, student reports, parent notified absences, absence data and sick bay notes will all be accessed via PAM.

Parents will be able to easily book Parent Teacher interviews through PAM, and access teacher email addresses. 

PAM accounts are linked via your email address that we have in our systems. 

If you have recently changed your email,  please call or email us on office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

Click on the 'forget password' link to set your password and then verify your email address.  (Email addresses must be verified for PAM to work properly).  Once your email is verified, your email can be used as the username for your account.

Once you have successfully logged in, you can save PAM to your homescreen on your device.

If you have any issues or need help with PAM please contact the school via email, office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

PAM Instructions

Parent Notified Absences via PAM

Once you have PAM set up and saved to your home screen you can easily send in Parent Notified absences.   Please use this platform going forward as this automatically syncs with the class roll.   This will fix the issues of receiving SMS notifications even though you had already notified the school. 

Please remember to update your contact details and any relevant medical details for your child.  

Most medical profiles have now been updated. Please remember to keep them up to date and upload any asthma/allergy plans that may be relevant.

To update any contact details please contact the school office. 

Recently we had three students who submitted a writing piece to the Upper Beaconsfield Community Centre's writing competition. These three students where secessful in winning a category. Below you can find both writing pieces